How To Write Westerns For The Modern Reader

by Charles Ray

The Western genre, once the king of the entertainment heap, has had its ups and downs, but it’s enjoying a comeback. The audience for Westerns today, however, is not the same one that devoured the works of Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey in the forties and fifties. Times have changed, and Western authors need to change with them. Acclaimed Western author and historian Charles Ray has written over three hundred books, a large percentage of them Westerns, and as a historian, former international relations professional, and educator, he’s acutely aware of the how today’s demographic changes impact the reading public.

In this volume, he offers advice, based on over fifty years of writing experience in many genres, to the author who wants to enter the Western market.

72 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 23, 2024

About the author

I've been writing since my teens. In addition to writing for several newspapers and magazines in the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa, I've written two books on leadership and a number of fiction works. I'm also a published poet, photographer, and artist. I write in several genres, reflecting my broad reading tastes. I spent 20 years in the army, retiring in 1982 and becoming a diplomat. I've worked in about 10 countries and traveled to about 30 more, mining each for material to write about.